Two recent news articles on crimes on the other side of the Atlantic caught my eye recently. These are definitely from the fact better than fiction category.
First up, we have a jewelry heist involving conclusive DNA evidence, but the person who left the evidence is still deemed innocent. How? Identical twins. The court can not conclusively prove which one was at the scene of the crime, so both must be let go, according to German Law. With somewhere in the neighborhood of $6.8 million in jewelry stolen, this definitely comes across as the plot of a mystery novel.
Second, more proof that the Germans are having a bad time of it when it comes to DNA evidence. On the upside, they’ve finally found the woman linked to 40 crime scenes and at least 6 murders, including the murder of a police officer. On the downside, it turns out the woman in question worked at a cotton swab factory and accidentally contaminated the swabs used by the forensics teams.
Lastly, not technically a crime, and definitely not German, it turns out the British Library has lost over 9,000 books. Those of you hoping they won’t call to collect the fines, please return the volumes at your earliest convenience.
